Water heater



Sept. 15, l931.

WATER HEATER Filed Nov. 24, 1930 c. A. LELAN/t-L JR 1,823,803

Patented Sept. l5, 1931 ffl UNITED sTA'T-Efs VPAT1315115OFFICE CYBUS A. LELAND, JR., Olli DES MOINES; IOWA WATER HEATER:

VApplication iled November 24,1930. SeralNo. 497,826.

My invention relates particularly to water claims, and illustrated in the accompanying heaters of the type used for furnishing hot drawings,`in which: water for domestic purposes, but is not con- YFigurel is afperspectiveview of a `water fined to such use, heater embodying my invention.

"'15 This application isa continuation in part i .Figure'l is a central, section, vertical, de- 55 of my' previous application, Serial No. tail View of the same.. y L22,051, filed january 20, 1930. Figure 3 is a transverse, vertical, section*- One of the objects of my invention is to al viewtaken'on the' line 3 3 of Figure l; provide a water heater of simple construcand Y i0 tion, which can be manufactured and yin- Figure l is a sectionalview on theline 4-44 60 stalled at minimum first cost. v 0f Flgure lashO'Wng a Water inlet- A further object of my invention is to pro- My heater'i's of the automatic type in which vide such a water heater of such construction means is provided for automatically mainand arrangement of parts yas to afford high taining the temperaturel ofthe water.

" i5 elcency for heating a maximum volume 0f There are certain requisites vfor a satisfac- 65 water with a minimum use ofgas or' other tory conimercialhot water gas heater for resheating means, idences and domestic use. They have been in- Another purpose is to provide such a strucd 'r'eCtly referred to before and may again be ture with a low standby, to-wit, low cost of summarized as follows A20 Operation when Water is not being used. lst. The first cost of the heater must be y'10 Still a further object is to provide a heater low.l Thismeans that the structure must be having quick recovery, towvit, which will simple so that ,the manufacturing cost may quickly provide an additional supply of 'hot bekent `ClOWn, and it 3150 means that 'the water after water'previously heated has been heater must beSnCh ythat the cost of installa- Y y tion will be reasonable. 75

These desirable results of low rst cost, 2nd. The Operating cost mustbe kept down. manufacture and installation, low' operating T0 aCCOInpliSh this, the Cost while the burner cost and quick recovery I have attained 1S 0n full InuStbe reasonable and the Vstandby combining in m heater a number of by COSInuSt be low. Oneof the great' ohign features including t e Surrounding of the jections to many heaters'is their high standso combustion chamber and flue with water, the by 00st,- (thel 00st when no water is being use of the principle of counter-flow of comdrawn) y bustion gases and water, the employment of 3d.' A4 good heatermust have a quick rea down-draft arrangement which is bal- COVlyaV ThlS means that after'water has Y anced, the use of a relatively long horizonbeen drawn vI-"Om the tank, the heater. must 85 tal tank with the combustion chamber at one be SuCh aSQO heat Water qnkly enough, SO end and extending quite close to the top and that a 'Supply 0f hot water' iS always mainnear the hot water outlet, which with other tamed. f features makes it possible to heat a small In the gas. lndnStlyrt haSbeen Very difalnount 0f Water Very quickly, and finally the ult t0 attalll all 0f these 'Obj eCtS, and SO ELI "90 arrangement of the cold water inlet and hot as I know, lthey have not been` satisfactorily water outlet at such'points as to make the attalned 1n any Commercial product. In best use of the other features of construction SOIne heaters, the operating cost is high and just mentioned. Y v l the recoveryl is quick, and in others the op- A With these and other objects in view, my erating cost is low but the recovery is very e5 invention consists in the construction, ar- SlOW- y v f' y n rangement and combination of the various I have produced a heater in which all of parts of my water heater, whereby the obthese objects are attained by a proper comjects contemplated are attained, as hereinbination'and arrangement of parts, using the l 50 after more fully set forth, pointed out in my five features ymentioned above. 10G

eeking the best results have been attained y using a tank approximately three times as longas it is high.v

As shown in the drawings, the tank is illustrated as resting upon ers 14, supported on suitableposts Yil.

At one end of the tank, I provide one or more combustion chambers 18. The chamber 18 preferably has about the proportions relative to the tank as shown in Figures 2 and 3;

I preferably in the form of an upright cylinder reaching .quite close to the top :of the tank as shown.

The hot water outlet20 is arranged at the top of the tank at one end above the combustion chamber 18, so that vthe hottest water will Vbe drawnfrom the tank. v Y

In the lowerpart of the combustion chamber is arranged a burner 24 to which fuel lis supplied through apipe 26. AA control valve 28 may be provided close to the burner.

v From the upper part of the combustion chamber, wise of the tank'lO and downwardly to the opposite end thereof, through which this Hue passes, as shown. The size of the Hue and the Vlength thereof as well as the size of the combustion chamber and the relative length .and height of the tank have lbeen determined upon by many experiments.

The arrangementof the combustion cham'- ber and Hue vare such with relation to `each other andthe otherfparts that during standby periods, there is Vpractically no draft through the Hue. This is what I have called abalanced draftarrangement?.

rThe water inlet pipe`32 enters the end of the tank near the point where the Hue emerges and is connected'outside the tank with afsupply pipe .34. The pipe 32 ends justnsidethe tank as shown in Figures 2 andf.

For convenience in assembling the parts, ,the fuel supply pipe 26 is extended upwardly adjacentto the water supply pipe :34,.alongside the inlet end of the tank.

A thermostatic unit 36 ofknown Vconstruction controls the valve y38 in the fuel line, according to the temperature of the water in the water inlet 32.

I will now describe 'the operation-of .my improved heater with reference to some of .the featuresof its construction and the advantages resulting therefrom.

y The burner ma-y be ignited in .theordinary way. The heat in the 'combustion chamber is transferred to the water. The products of ycombustion-How downwardly through kthe Hue .30 `andare -discharged at the intake end of the tank. .Because the combustion chamber and Hue are wholly surrounded by semi-circular hanga'down-draft HueBOextends lengthi water, I secure the maximum benefit of the heat.

On account of these facts and because the hot water outlet is close above the combustion chamber and because I use a horizontally arranged boiler, I can heat a very small amount ofwater without creating much circulation .through the tank, and thus can maintain the hot water close to the outlet. Thisin'akes possible the heating of the water very'quiekly and makes possible a very rapid recovery after hot water has been used. Beearise of the balanced arrangement of the down-draft, there is little waste of heater-during'standby periods. make the combustion chamber .It will be obviousthat the Hue wen-t up through t-he Atop of the tank, there would be a draft during stand-by periods and the air passing through the Hue would take heat from the water.- lOn the upturned outer end of the Hue is `the vordinary draft-diverter hood i30a, located, as shownin the drawings, above the lower vpart and below the upper partv of the Hue '30, and serving in cooperation with the described arrangement of parts to provide for substantially balanceddraft during standby periods. With the balanced draft arrangement, there is no such draft and nosuchy loss of heat.

1 kThe Aarrangement of the inlet and outlet, ofcourse, are such as to supply the water where the combustion gases are coolest and topermitdra-wing off the water just above nthe combustion chamber where the water in the tank` is hottest. Y

The whole structure is very simple so that the costfo'f manufacture andinstallation is `reduced toa minimum.

vIt is,'of course, understood that a ofthe pilot type is used.

.Y Thus fa minimum amount of fuel is Yused during the sandby. e Y There is ahigh'eifc'ienc'y during the hea-ting of the water when it is being frequently drawn 0H. fThe maximum -heat .is adjacent to the outlet point of the vtank and because of the lhorizontal arrangement of the tank, lthe upperhotter layer of water will be drawn oifflirst and will furnish a considerable sup ply` of waterbefore the` colder lower body of water is drawn off. Y

Such a fheater is obviously economical because for ordinary purposes a small tank with a small burner may be used.. The applica- 'tion fof the heat is such that the mixing of -hot 'and Cold water 'is secured .in `just the ,proper extent,l for heating the water at the top of the tank .and `gradually lowering the level of the hot water. These advantages of vlow cost .of manufacturean-d installation, economical operating expensedur'mg heating and standby periods, ,andquiek"recovery, I have attained in -my present `heater by `reason -of the particular structure 'employed 'burner and particularly by;

means of the features of the wholly surrounded combustion chamber and flue, the employment of the down-draft which is balanced, the arrangement of the combustion chamber on end, extended quite close to the top and near the outlet with the iue extending to the other end of the tank near the inlet, whereby l utilize the counter-flow principle. c

l sometimes use more than one combustion chamber but when a plurality of such chambers is employed, they are all arranged near the outlet end of the tank and extend nearly to the top of the tank.

lt will thus be clear that changes may be made in the details of the construction and arrangement of the parts of my improved heater without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modilfied forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

l claim as my invention:

l. In a water heater of the kind described, a horizontally elongated tank, a combustion chamber in one end of the tank wholly received therein except at its bottom, extending close to the top of the tank a flue extending from the upper part of the combustion chamber downwardly through the opposite end of the tank, a means associated with the flue, outside the tank, for providing balanced draft, a burner in the combustion chamber, a pilot burner in the combustion chamber, means for controlling flow of fuel to burner, according to temperature of water near where it enters the tank, the tank having an inlet near the flue exit, and having an outlet, just above the combustion chamber, whereby water in the tank is heated from the top down and quick recovery is afforded.

2. ln a storage water heater, a heat insulated horizontally tank having a water inlet and a water outlet, a vertical combustion chamber received therein at one end, spaced from the walls of the tank except at its bottom, a burner in the combustion chamber, a pilot in the combustion chamber, a means for regulating the supply of fuel to the burner, responsive to temperature of water in the tank, a flue inclined from the upper part of the combustion chamber, downwardly and through the opposite end of the tank near the bottom thereof, a draft retarder hood on the flue outside the tank not higher than the upper end of the flue in the tank, the arrangement of said flue and hood providing for substantially balanced draft during standby periods.

3. A. storage water heater comprising a horizontally disposed elongated insulated heating and storage tank, a metal housing elongated tank, said Y projecting upwardly from the bottom of said container and positioned near one end thereof and wholly received therein for providing a combustion chamber, a conduit for combustion gases in communication with said housing forming a continuation of said combustion chamber, said conduit being positioned lengthwise of the container and arranged with one end extending through the container in a plane lower than the point of connection of the conduit with said housing, a draft balancing meansl positioned on said conduit outside of said container to retard and balance the combustion within said chamber and conduit, a heating element within said chamber, said container having a water inlet near the outer end of the conduit, and an outlet, means adjacent the water inlet for automatically controlling the operation of said heating element, said water outlet being positioned close to combustion chamber whereby as the hottest water is withdrawn the heating element responds as a result of inrush of cold water through said inlet.

Des Moines, Iowa, November 4, 1930.

CYRUS A.. LELAND, JR. 

